Topics of Interest

Not too long ago, the
Computer Game Developers Conference (GDC) was a
shockingly small affair. Audio vendors like Roland, Mediavision, and
Creative Labs were using fold-up tables with a banner. In 2008,
videogames are a $19 billion industry, and last month's show
took up the entire North and West halls of San Francisco's
Moscone Center. More than 18,000 game designers, graphic artists,
business people, and — most interesting for us —
composers streamed in to learn about the latest techniques for
creating interactive entertainment. And more than a dozen companies were
showing off new audio technologies.

As hardware has
advanced, developers and players alike are taking game audio more
seriously. The sawtooth melodies and white-noise percussion of the past
have been replaced by symphonic scores recorded by large orchestras —
or sometimes by individual composer/performers with "laptop
symphonies." Let's hear what the experts at GDC 2008 had
to say about the state of audio in games, and then dive into some of
the technology advancements that are changing the interactive audio
landscape.

More than 18,000 video game developers stormed GDC 2008, making it the biggest gathering ever. (Photo courtesy of the Game Developers Conference.)

Music That Listens to You

In my role as chairman
of the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group (IASIG), I'm fortunate to have access to some of
the best and brightest in game audio. IASIG started at GDC 13 years
ago to solve problems that face game-audio professionals, and each
year we return to collect more ideas and then launch working groups
to implement them. The reverb design in the Xbox, for example, was
the result of an IASIG working group's efforts.

But first, what is
"interactive" audio? Put simply, unlike most music we
listen to, interactive audio almost never sounds the same twice. The
soundtrack — music and effects — changes based on the
player's behavior in the game. That can go a long way toward
keeping the experience fresh and exciting over the 40 hours or so a
player might spend with a typical game.

Composer DS Wallace
told me he sees game scores becoming much more artistic. "One
positive change taking place is that in the past, programmers were
the ones who controlled the music and audio," he explained.
"It's not really their fault, but games can suffer
without an artistic hand managing the music. Today, games like BioShock are breaking this cycle by really doing things
outside of the box and having the music interact more with the
player's actions."

Another well-known
audio professional, Scott Gershin of Soundelux, spoke about raising
the bar in sound design. He emphasized how important it is to
understand timing, and how the rhythm and pace of scenes and the
story affect the experience in its entirety. He said that a sound
designer needs to provide contrast in sound just as one would do in
picture by mixing high and low frequencies at the right time. "When
a train goes by, I want to hear the subwoofers fire," he
insisted.

Even with three screens, video has a long way to go before it matches the immersiveness of surround sound. (Photo courtesy of the Game Developers Conference.)

Marty O'Donnell,
who composed the music for the Halo games, is about as well
known as it gets in this industry. During a GDC session called
"Composer Tips and Tricks for Creating Interactive Music," O'Donnell urged composers to think like a composer and write
the music first, and then think like a music editor while integrating
the music into the game. He also offered a helpful tip for those
wanting to analyze what he did in the Halo 3 soundtrack.
By using the Xbox's ability to capture a "film" of
a gameplay session, you can replay the same scene several times and
compare how the music changes. In the live demo he played, the music
sounded totally natural, stretching and flowing to enhance the
character's actions.

It's important to note
that the views of each of these professionals (and others) at GDC
relate. They all point to the importance of having, or
developing, both a micro sense and macro sense of what's
happening in the game and adjusting to meet those needs. But while
aesthetics are more important than ever, it's the steady
advance in technology that enables composers to produce the lavish,
modern soundtracks in today's games. Here are some of the audio
advancements I saw this year at GDC.